Early sport specialization in the adolescent female athlete

Abstract

A growing trend in sports is early sport specialization which involves training in a single sport on a year-round basis. Factors that contribute to an athlete specializing in a sport include: enjoyment of the sport, obtaining a scholarship, professional aspirations, gaining a competitive advantage, lack of enjoyment in other sports, injury risk, lack of time to participate in other sports, and parent/coach pressure. With the growing hyper competitiveness and professionalization of sports and lucrative financial gains that proceed them, more and more young athletes, coaches and parents are looking to gain a competitive edge. Sport specialization may contribute to increased risk of injury and burnout in athletes. Male athletes have garnered most of the attention regarding early sport specialization, particularly in baseball. Female athletes have their own set of risk factors as they tend to specialize earlier in their athletic career and have been shown to accumulate primarily overuse injuries. In addition to contributing to this paper, Dr. James R. Andrews has been one of the leaders in injury prevention and an advocate in cautioning against early sport specialization in all young athletes. The focus of this paper is to highlight the specific risks associated with sport specialization for adolescent female athletes in hopes of developing successful athletes while avoiding injury or burnout along their path. Over the years there has been a trend of increased youth sports participation by female athletes. As female athlete participation continues to increase, we concomitantly have an increase in injury rates. Additionally, the iconic female influences of superstars like Nadia Comaneci and Lindsey Vonn has popularized the notion of sports specialization in young female athletes. Thus, with both the increase in participation as well as the heightened popularity of sport specialization, greater focus needs to be devoted to injury recognition and prevention in youth female athletes. Identifying the at-risk female athlete is prudent for the health and well-being of our youth athletes.